These phrases summarize the two primary teen narratives found in anime — in addition to a myriad of other media and fiction. The former is from Studio Trigger’s latest short, Space Patrol Luluco. The latter is from the gold standard for male adolescence in anime: Studio Gainax’s FLCL. Naturally, the fact that Trigger is in many ways an offshoot of Gainax, founded by former Gainax animator and director Hiroyuki Imaishi is highly relevant.

With two days of long meetings, and forced fraternization, coming to a close, my boss rose from his seat at the table. The waning moments of this business trip, he said, were to be spent talking amongst ourselves, as requested by one of my co-workers. As the door closed behind him, 14 of us looked around the table at each other quizzically. The coworker in question stood up and declared this a time to air our grievances with one another.

Late August of this past year, I was informed that my presence was required at a weekend-long business trip in Oklahoma. Without delving too much into my day job, the majority of my peers are in Texas. Prior to these meetings, they did not reach out to me, a remote member of their group, preferring to stay within their own, impenetrable clique.